Pairing Apple Keyboard With Other Bluetooth-Enabled Devices

Hi, David —

Sorry help has been slow to arrive...

Have you reviewed the Other Bluetooth Devices forum? A quick search for LifeDrive yielded 9 results — and I wonder whether the posts by Michael Lafferty might be helpful to your situation.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Dean

Hi again, David —

Sorry those threads weren't helpful. Not one to give up easily, I conjured and looked around a bit further. I'll share a few thoughts — and suggestions that seem to have helped others facing what I hope are comparable — though far from identical — dilemmas...

(1) Enter a random passkey. Because some manufacturers have implemented certain Bluetooth capabilities differently, devices of different brands can require a little "voodoo" — or be unable to communicate with each other altogether. One such "mojo" possibility is that your Palm device is seeking an arbitrary passkey (also called a "link key") for encryption purposes during each active period of use — separate from normal "pairing" and authentication. To test this, try entering an arbitrary number such as "1111."

The Apple KnowledgeBase Article About Encrypted Communication (Key Icon) mentions this. See also José Ma. J. Lopez-Vito III's Bluetooth Blues" thread (11-09-02) from a MacInTouch reader report for an example where this succeeded. (Search or scroll ~ 2/3 down the page.)

If this or any of the other ideas works, even once, I suggest you try to set up the keyboard as a " Favorite" — if the Palm Bluetooth software facilitates something like this.

(2) Turn off " fast user switching" if you have it enabled on your PowerBook. Palm's Mac OS X compatibility issues FAQs explain that Palm's kernel extension software can't handle more than one user being logged-in (even though "inactive"). Disabling "fast user switching" in System Preferences »» Accounts »» Login Options — when you need to connect to the LifeDrive — is the work-around for this, if appropriate.

(3) Other ideas. I found or recalled a few other ideas that I consider less likely to help in this situation — because they're intended to resolve issues when your PowerBook (not LifeDrive) takes the "master" role in a Bluetooth personal-area network (PAN) = piconet.[a] However, they may be applicable — but would have to be implemented using the Palm software (with which I'm unfamiliar) rather than Apple's. So I'll suggest/explain these ideas in a subsequent message if nothing here helps. Ignore 'em if you can't see a way...

(4) Confirm LifeDrive and Palm OS/Bluetooth status using System Profiler. When you have your LifeDrive attached to your PowerBook using its USB adapter (this may not matter), check to confirm some info about the LifeDrive that may be extrapolated to its interactions with the wireless keyboard. Selecting the PDA in System Profiler »» Hardware »» Bluetooth, »» USB; and System Preferences »» Devices should provide details of what your PowerBook "sees" re: the LifeDrive: Address, Type, Services, Paired, Favorite, Connected, etc. Do any of these values appear surprising or problematic? While you're in System Preferences, confirm that the LifeDrive is set up as a "Favorite." Also, check your Palm install disc &/or System Profiler »» Software »» Extensions to confirm that you have Palm™ Desktop 4.2.1 Rev D for Mac drivers (released Sept. 2005) installed. Given that you just purchased, this is probably a "no-brainer" — but who knows?

(5) Contact Palm. I looked around in Palm's Support Knowledge Library, Palm Macintosh Support, and Palm Help Forums — honestly, without finding much that's appropriate to your conundrum — except that Palm is "still testing" compatibility with Mac OS X 10.3.x and 10.4.x, and there seem to be quite a few unresolved issues that Palm engineers are "studying." You may want to peruse these sources, too — if you haven't — since you're so much more familiar than I am. Nevertheless, since you're within the 90-day complimentary support period, I think you should Request Help directly from Palm.
Btw, did you notice that the LifeDrive uses the Bluetooth 1.1 specification? (Firmware 1.2 is backward-compatible, but...)
(6) (The "bad news" — maybe). Palm sells a $69 fold-up, "Universal Keyboard" as an optional accessory. Cynically, I wonder whether this might lessen their motivation to resolve pairing &/or driver incompatibilities? Note that this link from this keyboard »» details webpage seems to imply that a separate keyboard driver is required to interact with the LifeDrive. Hmmm...
Well... That's All, Folks! I envy you the cool toy — and HTH so you can use it to your heart's content!
Good luck!
Dean
[a] Explained in a following post, as appropriate...
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Hi again, David —

A minor footnote to the previous post... KnowledgeBase Article 86652: Apple Wireless Keyboard - Creating a Passkey mentions:

"If you pair your Apple Wireless Keyboard in Bluetooth preferences rather than in the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, you will be asked to create a passkey. Choose any combination of numbers, but do not use letters in your passkey."

While this isn't directly applicable — since you're trying to pair with a keyboard from the LifeDrive rather than from your PowerBook — it does parallel suggestion (1) above, fwiw...

Note: I'm holding off on the "subsequent message" about other ideas until hearing back from you.

Regards,
Dean
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On a similar note, I am trying to get my Apple Wireless keyboard to talk to my Tungsten T5 via bluetooth. The T5 sees the keyboard but will not pair with it. Is there some bit of software that needs to be installed first on the T5?

Thanks for any help.

Paul.

Hi, Paul —

Please ensure that you've worked-through all of these steps thoroughly and carefully.
That should do it.
Regards,
Dean
For your future reference, you'll find the most experience & savvy with such snafus in the Other Bluetooth Devices forum.
David — never heard back from you. Did you succeed?

Thanks for the follow-up, David — much though I wish it were more heartening news.